The Latest Breaking News from Antonio Giovinazzi

The Briton, who sealed third place on the final lap of the Spa 6 Hours with Antonio Giovinazzi and Alessandro Pier Guidi, told Autosport that “maybe we could have given them a fight” but for the three extra pitstops the #51 Ferrari 499P made in comparison with the winning Toyota.

The Briton, who secured a second WEC win of the season with Kamui Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopez, explained that he knew the call to start their Toyota GR010 HYBRID on dry-weather Michelins was “the correct one even if we knew it was going to be a bit tricky”.

The polesitting trio’s #7 GR010 HYBRID Le Mans Hypercar beat the sister crew of Sebastien Buemi, Ryo Hirakawa and Brendon Hartley - that had started from the back of the grid after the latter’s qualifying crash - by 11.637s.

Poleman Kobayashi, who inherited the top spot after Ferrari's Antonio Giovinazzi had his best lap deleted for a track limits infringement, made the comments after Brendon Hartley crashed the #8 Toyota GR010 HYBRID on his first lap out of the pits at Raidillon.

Poleman Kobayashi, who inherited the top spot after Ferrari's Antonio Giovinazzi had his best lap deleted for a track limits infringement, made the comments after Brendon Hartley crashed the #8 Toyota GR010 HYBRID on his first lap out of the pits at Raidillon.

Giovinazzi found two tenths on a second quick lap aboard his Ferrari 499P Le Mans Hypercar to leapfrog AF Corse team-mate Miguel Molina and Kobayashi right at the end of the 15-minute Hypercar session.

Times set early in the one-hour session were around 20 seconds off the dry pace set on Thursday, but improved steadily before a final flurry of quick times saw several different manufacturers take turns atop the leaderboard.

Giovinazzi’s #51 499P Le Mans Hypercar dipped under the benchmark time set in opening practice by Sebastien Buemi’s #8 Toyota GR010 LMH, posting a best lap of 2m01.871s.

Toyota is set to face its sternest test in the World Endurance Championship this year since the Hypercar class replaced LMP1 in 2021.

The damage to the car after the Briton’s off at Turn 1 on his out-lap at the start of second morning of the two-day official pre-season test was largely confined to the right-front corner, according to Ferrari. 

The damage to the car after the Briton’s off at Turn 1 on his out-lap at the start of second morning of the two-day official pre-season test was largely confined to the right front corner, according to Giuliano Salvi, Ferrari’s sportscar race and testing manager.